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I have been trying to declutter and of course have lots of boxes of stuff to do in the future, such as yarn box and fabric box.
So I am trying to start of these things and actually do them, so started a quilt yesterday.
But I have gotten so focused on decluttering and making things clearer, that it is really hard to start a new project.
Does anyone else struggle with this--desire to do things but wish to avoid mess?
Sorry, not explaining very well.
After spending time clearing a space and making it photo-worthy, it can be difficult to fill it with a project. So that makes me think about whether I'm really going to have time to work on a new project regularly. The flip side is that having a project in active mode means I'm more likely to work on that than to waste time.
Yeah, I get it. I want to make slipcovers for our two new-to-us wing chairs, but it entails getting a sewing machine from my DD (I got rid of mine when we moved) buying lots of material and then upsetting my office to create the space for this project. Sewing is a messy business--all those scraps of fabric and thread clippings. I do think that's a mental barrier for me. Otherwise I love sewing.
I have great admiration for quilters, btw, Tybee. It takes so much creativity and patience. Good luck to you! Forget the decluttering for the moment and enjoy your project.
After spending time clearing a space and making it photo-worthy, it can be difficult to fill it with a project. So that makes me think about whether I'm really going to have time to work on a new project regularly. The flip side is that having a project in active mode means I'm more likely to work on that than to waste time.
Yes! You get it. I waste too much time on Internet on stupid stuff, and I don't work on stuff I have wanted to work on for literally years! But I hate having the table all messed up.
Yeah, I get it. I want to make slipcovers for our two new-to-us wing chairs, but it entails getting a sewing machine from my DD (I got rid of mine when we moved) buying lots of material and then upsetting my office to create the space for this project. Sewing is a messy business--all those scraps of fabric and thread clippings. I do think that's a mental barrier for me. Otherwise I love sewing.
I have great admiration for quilters, btw, Tybee. It takes so much creativity and patience. Good luck to you! Forget the decluttering for the moment and enjoy your project.
I have to use the dining room table, so I have a cutting pad on there that I can fold up, and I guess I will fold it up when I am not doing it. But I did cut strips during the debate, so that was good.
I don't think I could mess up my office, it would be too confusing for me. I really need dedicated office space and get very thrown when something happens, like when the kids came and slept in there.
Can you use your dining room table for the slipcovers? I used to love to make slipcovers, and I need to make one right now for this rocking char.
I have been trying to declutter and of course have lots of boxes of stuff to do in the future, such as yarn box and fabric box.
So I am trying to start of these things and actually do them, so started a quilt yesterday.
But I have gotten so focused on decluttering and making things clearer, that it is really hard to start a new project.
Does anyone else struggle with this--desire to do things but wish to avoid mess?
Sorry, not explaining very well.
Oh, I TOTALLY get you! I'm a quilter, knitter, gardener, cross stitcher. (see what I just posted over in decluttering)
I am in an online quilt group and there are members who can run 4-12 projects at a time. I joined a challenge with them and having 7 new projects cut and on my table froze me in time. I hated it. I put all but 1 away. Worked on 1 at a time until finished.
So that is how I work. 1 project on my table and I chip away until done.
Can you set up a card table in your office for a quilty project? I do find that I work on the project because I have a step ready to sit down and sew. In the past, if I had to get setup, I found I didn't use those 5-20minute segments of time. With stuff ready to go, I do it! And I accomplish so much more-it feels great!
At my sitting chair is an afghan I started in December. It's about 1/2 way. I also have a scarf started that I haven't touched since late December.
More than anything, you need to get yourself set up in a way that motivates you to work on your craft rather than paralyze and prevent.
In this house, there is a little attic room that is my space so I have some leeway in leaving messes. I decided my winter project would be re-upholstering a MCM chair that had ugly olive green upholstery. Here it is three months later and all the pieces are still laying around. Cushions covered but not re-assembled. The loose back cushion appears lumpy so I will have to have it professionally re-stuffed in order to call it done. I just want to put the whole mess away but hoping my stubbornness will see it through to completion.
Teacher Terry
2-8-20, 12:41pm
My only projects are knitting scarves so they don’t take up much room. My mom had a second bedroom in her apartment just for her crafts so that the mess was hidden.
It is honestly one reason we want a bigger house. My husband has the shed and he can woodwork to his heart's content/ I'd like an art/craft space.
Gardnr, maybe I can sew somewhere different than where I cut pieces. I use the dr table for that because it's big enough for the fold up cutting board I bought, which is really helping me. But sewing doesn't need the whole table.
I used to love to make slipcovers, and I need to make one right now for this rocking char.
Wow, I'm going to have to keep that in mind for when I'm stuck.. I've never made one. I've been watching YouTube videos, but I'm still a little intimidated. My goal is to make them before we paint the interior. As I've mentioned before, DH and DS LOVE the crazy quilt walls we have and I want to paint them a neutral color, and I think I'll get far less disappointed push-back if I can have the house all ready with colorful furnishings/accessories to convince them we can still have a whimsical, colorful house even if the walls are off-white.
As for the space, I'd rather set up a spot where I can close a door, but I do have a great gate leg table in our living space that I can use for the project--it's just that the house will inevitably look messy until the project is done.
happystuff
5-24-20, 9:16am
Decided to revive this thread as I revived an old project yesterday. I am back to scanning photos to digital and decluttering the photo albums. I like hitting two things at once - LOL. I'm saving *some* pictures, but not many. After all, how many pictures of zebras and elephants from all the zoo trips do I need to physically keep??? LOL. It's definitely a fun project as I am going down "memory lane" in the process.
So funny, I have been the exact opposite, going from digital pictures on phone and printing them out into albums. I have found it just as you have--a fun trip down memory lane, and I love my albums, as we like looking at the pictures juxtaposed on the page. I also have been discarding several and sending some to relatives and that has felt really, really good.
Someday we'll go through and winnow down the albums, but that's to do as a family, so my kids can take what they want.
I've been sewing and quilting like crazy. My charity group stack is 9 I think. I have 12 quilted and awaiting binding, 5 more tops awaiting quilting, 2 more tops partially cut that I'll sew up this next week.
hubster came into my studio Thursday and said "wow, there are really some big holes in your stash!". :cool: Yes, I have enough fabric.
Gardnr, I am just about finished with a scrap quilt that made almost no dent in my scraps.
My d--- MCM chair is still sitting here unfinished. However, one of my messes that took over has now all been cleaned up. I started a whole bunch of seeds in the sunroom in Feb and they have almost all now been moved outside to the gardens. Felt really good to clean up the messy sunroom.
Gardnr, I am just about finished with a scrap quilt that made almost no dent in my scraps.
I have a friend who made 2 70*90 tops out a little plastic shoebox.
No slipcovers yet, but I did get the sewing machine from my DD. We're steeped in house projects. We're about 75% finished painting the exterior and we're deep in garden bed prep and planting mode.
Then I have a wedding dress to make. I don't see slipcovers being done until the fall.
Making good progress in garden. Main bed is all set now, with weeds out, perennials sorted out, seeds planted for annuals, and everything in.
Cushaws are planted. Am in weed and mint removal mode now. May put the tomato seedlings out soon even though they are tiny, but they are getting so leggy, and I'm about to buy tomato plants, which does not make sense since I started these.
Given up starting anything new inside. Too nice outside.
Am wildly behind on my one knitting project, but am about a quarter of the way through it. Need to buckle down and knit each night.
I planted the garden this weekend. 18 tomatoes, 8 zucchini, 4 spaghetti squash, 4 butternut squash, 12 eggplant, 12 peppers-variety, some herbs and a flat of marigolds for insect repellent. Plus, I love the bright yellow flowers all summer. Let the growing begin!:cool:
happystuff
5-25-20, 9:08am
All these gardens sound wonderful. I'm still trying containers this year, but sort of wish I had done a bed.
8 zucchini?????? What do you do with all the excess? If I have 2 plants, its way more than I can use up.
catherine
5-25-20, 12:17pm
... a flat of marigolds for insect repellent. Plus, I love the bright yellow flowers all summer. Let the growing begin!:cool:
Yup. I got me a flat of marigolds, too, for exactly the same reasons! Plus tomatoes, a lot of different lettuces and chard, cucumbers, and herbs: basil, lemon thyme, rosemary. Plus they had a buy one get one free on lavender--1 qt containers. I can't wait to plant them. I'm considering a lavender border alongside my veggie gardens. If DH lets me do it, I'll be back buying about 8 more.
8 zucchini?????? What do you do with all the excess? If I have 2 plants, its way more than I can use up.
I bought 4 that looked great. When I went to plant? Each had a double. I use a lot in my ratatouille. I've also never ever had a neighbor say no to fresh zucchini.
I'm a little late to the thread here, but I'm in the same boat. In the process of cleaning and decluttering I've found projct items that I've wanted to do, and then subsequently clutter up the space again. I'm also pretty bad at finishing projects in anything resembling a timely manner, so my nice spaces end up cluttered more often than not. Trying to work on it, but not doing a very good job so far...
I'm a little late to the thread here, but I'm in the same boat. In the process of cleaning and decluttering I've found projct items that I've wanted to do, and then subsequently clutter up the space again. I'm also pretty bad at finishing projects in anything resembling a timely manner, so my nice spaces end up cluttered more often than not. Trying to work on it, but not doing a very good job so far...
Me too, me too!
I am trying to get around this by starting to do a daily clean up, where everything in the house gets returned to where it belongs. I say this looking at a counter covered with flower pots, a spray bottle of water, a new kitchen faucet, two mysterious jump drives... Obviously, I have to get on this concept a lot more! Some people advocate 15 minutes before bed but I am going to try the morning, when I have more energy, and go through each room and put stuff away.
mschrisgo2
5-26-20, 6:56pm
I’m really good at scattering things all over the kitchen and dining area. So I’m cultivating a habit of putting things in their places while my dinner is cooking each day. So far, it’s working pretty well. The test will come, I suppose, when we are allowed to go out again, and I’m not home for dinner...
I got the counter cleared and polished it and now I dont want anything messing it up.
Need to do the same with the dining room table and my bedside table.
Those three are the worst areas.
Scatterer here, too!!
The first two years I was up in VT, I did great with clutter control, but I seem to be losing it a little. My office desk is a hot spot, and the central farmhouse table.
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